I Am To Be Interviewed

Tomorrow morning, between 10 - 11am, I am going to be interviewed by Jad Abumrad and Robert Crulwich, the hosts of the RadioLab podcast, which I've mentioned here before.

I am, as you can imagine, very excited to be talking to them.

I found out about the interview two days ago, when the producer of the show, Ellen, emailed me to ask if I would be interested in being interviewed for the show. She'd held onto an email that I wrote her two or three months ago and she wanted me to talk to me about it.

A month after Lisa and I started dating, I got an email from RadioLab to all mailing list subscribers asking for suggestions for the new season. Subject matters for them to cover, tips on changes that we would like to see happen to the show, etc. The final request was for stories about RadioLab in our actual lives.

I wrote them a short email talking about how Lisa and I met. One of the first days that we spent together, Lisa asked me to burn her a CD of "something to listen to". She wanted something that was important to me. So, I burned her three disks of RadioLab shows. And I gave her specific instructions to go home and turn off the lights and the phone and listen to them.

She did. And when we saw each other again, a few days later, she was really moved by them. She thought that they were smart and interesting and that they really expanded her world view. She was just as impressed by them as I was. Radio Lab became one of the first bricks that we laid in our relationship together.

Later, when she got her Ipod for Christmas, I was sure to load every episode on it for her. I carry around every episode on my ipod too. You never know when you'll need to share them with someone.

Ellen held onto that story and now, months later, she's compiling stories about RadioLab listeners who've used RadioLab in their everyday lives. A teacher who used the "Morality" episode to teach inner city kids about Julius Ceaser. The guy who burned every episode onto CD's for his dad's Christmas presents.

And me.

The guy who burned CDs of it to give to his girlfriend, to tell him something more about himself.

After Ellen explained what she was looking for, I realized that I had to tell her the truth. Lisa and I are not together anymore. It seemed the only thing to do. As much as I would like to be a part of this, I couldn't lie about it in the interview. And I couldn't email Lisa and ask her to pretend that we're still together through the interview process. So, I told Ellen the truth.

As it turns out, that didn't matter, actually. The ironic hook that they're telling a romantic story that doesn't have a happy ending appeals to them, that much more. Ellen assured me that they wouldn't be looking for any dirt on Lisa or me. They weren't interested in the details of the breakup. I didn't want to talk about it. And that turned out to be okay. They want a sweet piece. Nothing painful or cruel. So, I agreed to the interview.

I also gave them an email address for Lisa, so that they could interview her and get her side of the story, if she wanted to be a part of it. I told Ellen that Lisa might not want to be a part of this. And that she should be respectful of Lisa's privacy, if she wants it. (Likewise, if Lisa doesn't participate in this process, I won't use even her first name in my interview at all. I want to respect her privacy too.)

So, that's the gig.

Tomorrow morning, between 10am and 11am, Jad and Robert and Ellen will call me and I'll tell them the short, sweet and sad story about how Radio Lab was a beginning of a sad, sweet relationship, which is now lost.

That's all.

Mr.B